


Partnership

by Subo13



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Boyfriends, Drama, Eventual Romance, Gay, High School, M/M, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-07 03:40:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18402359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Subo13/pseuds/Subo13
Summary: Sebastian Stark (no relation to Iron Man) has secretly always wanted to be a super hero, but he never expected to ever actually be a super hero. However, after a chance run in with Spider-Man himself and getting bitten by a strange spider, Sebastian's life changed forever. Now he must figure out how to control his newfound powers, while balancing high school, family, and strange, scary new feelings he never expected to have.





	1. There's Something Strange About Peter Parker

My name is Sebastian Stark. Now, I know what you’re thinking, so before you ask, no, I’m not in any way related to Tony Stark, as awesome as that would be. Nope, I’m just a normal High Schooler from Queens, trying to navigate the ins and outs of school and socializing. And also avoid whatever tear in the space time continuum happens to be hovering above Manhattan that particular month.

Ever since Iron Man first started appearing on TV when I was young, I wanted to be a superhero – again, not because of the name. I think everybody my age secretly wanted to be one, in some way or another. Never in my life did I picture myself taking down three flying aircraft carriers over DC or something like that. I’m way too introverted for that kind of attention. Honestly, I just wanted to be able to help people. 

Even with the presence of the Avengers, crime was constantly on the rise around the country, and the real super heroes were always too busy closing some sky beam to worry about it. If I could just clean up my hometown even a little bit while Steve Rogers was busy fighting terrorists in other countries, I’d be happy. Of course, I never actually expected to become a superhero, but I’ve found that life has a funny way of surprising us. But that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves.

~oOo~

Beep. Beep. Beep. I try in vain to ignore those evil mechanical screams that forcibly pull me out of my sleep. With a sigh that was almost a groan, I flail my arms around my nightstand until my hand eventually brushes against my vibrating phone. I hit the home button, silencing the noise. As tempted as I was to rest my eyes, I know better than to let myself drift back to sleep.

Shit.

I sigh and throw my covers off. I slide my legs off the bed and stretch. Then I just kind of sit there, staring aimlessly at the floor. My heart does a startled twist at the sudden and loud knock at my door, and I almost fall off the bed as I'm ripped from my trance-like state.

“You better be awake in there!” Comes my mom’s stern yet loving voice.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m up!” I shout back, before muttering under my breath, “Good god I’m not a baby.”

“I heard that,” My mom has sonar ears, “Come on, breakfast is ready. And hurry up, the bus will be here soon!”

“I hear you, I hear you.”

I sigh and stretch one more time before starting my morning routine.

~oOo~

I lazily slump down the stairs, clothes on, hair done, and backpack hanging haphazardly off of my right shoulder. When I enter the kitchen, my younger sister Hannah is already eating a bowl of cereal at the table and my mom is cleaning off last night's dishes.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” My sister says, not even bothering to look up from her phone.

She's a full year younger than me, but that never stopped her from acting at least two years older.

“Oh, shut up.” I shoot back.

She sticks her tongue out at me. I sit down and start preparing my own bowl of cereal.

“Did you see what happened at Coney Island?” My sister asks, excited.

“No,” I say as I pour my cereal.

“Really?” I could tell she was shocked, “It was all over Instagram and YouTube! There was a huge plane crash right on the beach!”

She leans forward and lowers her voice, as if she doesn’t want mom to her. I lean in too.

“Nobody knows where the plane was from, but people are saying it was one of Iron Man’s. Apparently, someone tried to hijack it.”

She leans in even closer, and I know where this is going, and why she was being so quiet. Mom doesn’t like us talking about this.

“But I heard Spider-Man put a stop to it.”

My mom calls from the sink. “You guys better not be talking about that Spider-Man.”

My sister and I quickly snap back to eating.

“You know I don’t like you guys talking about that stuff around the house.” She continues, “Those people are dangerous, and you shouldn’t be filling your minds with all that super hero business.”

“Ok,” My sister responds, disappointed.

We both finish eating and head towards the door.

“Wait!” My mom calls, “I know you aren’t about to leave without saying goodbye!”

My sister and I sigh. We go back in and give our mom a hug.

“You guys be safe.” She says, then turns directly at me, “And you stay out of trouble!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” I respond.

My mom turns to my sister, “Keep an eye on him for me.”

My sister smiles, “Will do.”  
We head out the door, and as soon as it closes behind us, my sister turns to me, picking up right where she left off.

“Jennifer said that she heard Spider-Man talking outside a convenience store, and she said that he sounds like a kid! Like, our age.”

I chuckle, “Yeah, sure. And I’m Hawkeye. Turns out he’s just a boring high schooler too.”

I nudge her with my shoulder.

“Oh, piss off.” She smiles romantically, “Just shut up and let me pretend that Spider-Man is within the acceptable dating range for me.”

“Ugh.” We both chuckle, and she changes the subject. 

“How was homecoming?” My sister asks, “I was kind of bummed I didn’t get to go.”

I shrug, “I mean, it was the same as any other high school dance. Just shitty pop songs and awkward dancing.”

My sister pouts, “Wish I knew what any other high school dance was like. My first chance to go to homecoming and I was stuck babysitting.”

“Hey, at least you got paid.”

“That’s true. I’ll just buy some Hawaiian punch and sit in my room listening to 'Sweet Caroline.' That’s pretty much the same thing as Homecoming, right.”

“You’re learning.”

My sister smiles.

“Well, at least I didn’t miss anything.”

“Actually,” I smile and pull out my phone, “You did miss one thing.”

I go into my photos and pull up a video. I hand my sister the phone.

“Oh my God!” A huge grin fills her face as the video plays, “Is that Gwen?!”

I chuckle, “You bet it is.”

“I had no idea she could Wobble like that!”

“Oh, she killed it.”

Gwen Stacy’s been my best friend since elementary school. Her dad is the Chief of Police at the local precinct, and he used to work closely with my father before… well, that’s not important. We pretty much grew up together, and we’ve remained good friends through high school. Unlike me, Gwen is highly extroverted and outgoing. It seems like she can strike up a conversation about literally anything with pretty much anyone.

I went to Homecoming with her and a few other friends, and she absolutely stole the show. I feel like she hardly left the dance floor all night, and anytime there was a group dance, she was the first to get it moving. Hands down my favorite was watching her put her heart and soul into Wobble, the video of which my sister was now watching.

“You HAVE to send that to me.” My sister hands me back my phone.

“Will do.” 

~oOo~

The school day was pretty uneventful. Just endless hours of boring classes. However, there was a lot of quiet talk and hushed whispers about the plane crash. Mentions of Tony Stark, terrorists, some kind of bird man, and of course Spider-Man. I didn’t really pay attention to any of it. Everyone was spreading the same rumors I had already heard from my sister.

As I pack my backpack, getting ready to leave, the hallway is a bustle with people tearing down the Homecoming banners. I’m just putting my last book in my bag when someone rests their elbow on my shoulder. I don’t even need to look to know who it is. 

“Hey, Gwen.” I turn towards her.

“Don’t sound too excited.” She smiles and brushes a strand of golden hair behind her ear, “How was the weekend?”

“Uneventful. How about yours?”

We begin walking down the hallway as we talk.

“About the same.” She answers, “Did you hear about what happened?”

“Good god, you too? Is that all anyone can talk about?”

“Well, it was pretty crazy, you have to admit.”

“Considering an entire country was lifted into the sky a few years ago, my metric for crazy is pretty high.”

“Whatever.” Gwen bumps me with her shoulder, “I thought it was interesting.”

“I mean, sure, I guess. I don’t mind Spider-Man anyway, so I guess it’s fine.”

“Speaking of fine,” she gestures at someone up ahead, “There’s Peter. I’ve been meaning to catch up with him. Come on!”

She picks up her pace and I follow along obediently. Up ahead at the end of the hallway stands Peter Parker. I’ve only met him a couple of times, but I know he and Gwen are good friends, and he seems pretty chill. He’s also all my sister and Gwen can talk about. While he doesn’t do any sports, he has an athletic look to him, and looks like he at least works out occasionally. He’s also stupid smart from what I hear. Apparently he got an internship at Stark Industries. Smart, attractive, awkward but in a cute way, athletic, and just the right amount of nerdy. He was disgustingly perfect, and Gwen and Hannah never missed an opportunity to remind me.

“Peter!” Gwen calls out when we get closer. 

He turns to us, and it seems like he was just pulled out of a deep though. But his face quickly turns into a smile.

“Hey, Gwen.” He gives her a one-armed hug, “How are you?”

“Good!” She responds, “It’s been a while! What’ve you been up to?”

“Oh, nothing much.” He puts his hands in his pockets, “Just school and work and… mostly school. Uh, how about you?”

“About the same.”

There’s a moment of awkward silence before Gwen remembers I’m standing there, wallowing in my social anxiety. 

“Oh! You’ve met Sebastian, right?”

“Yeah, I think we had English together last year?” He looks at me for a response.

“Yeah,” I continue, “We’ve met a couple of times.”

“Ok cool.” Gwen sighs in relief, “I’m bad at introducing people, so I’m glad I don’t have to. Anyway, how’s the internship?”

“Huh?” Peter looks slightly confused, then like he suddenly remembered something important, “Oh! Yeah, it’s uh - it’s going good.”

“Peter’s been working as an intern at Stark Industries.” Gwen explains with a hint of pride.

“Oh no shit!” I exclaim, even though I already knew that thanks to Hannah, “Dude that’s dope!”

Peter smiles sheepishly, “Thanks. It’s pretty fun.”

“Just pretty fun?” Gwen asks, “Didn’t you get to go to Germany a couple months ago?”

“Yeah, but it was just a couple of days, and I was working the whole time so it’s not like I got to see anything exciting.”

“Still, you got to go to Germany!”

Peter grins with a dash of tension and looks at the ground, “Yeah.”

Suddenly, Gwen’s phone rings. She grabs it out of her back pocket and looks at it.

“Shit,” she mutters, then looks to Peter and I, “I gotta run,” she turns to Peter, “It was great seeing you!”

She pulls him into a brief hug, then starts backing down the hallway. As she does, she points a firm finger at Peter.

“We need to catch up for real sometime.” She states.

“Yeah, totally.” Peter responds.

Gwen responds with a thumbs up, “Cool. Catch you later then!”

She turns and starts speed walking down the hallway, leaving Peter and I in awkward silence. We stand there watching her leave for a moment before Peter breaks the silence.

“Uh, it was nice seeing you.” He offers me a friendly hand.

I take it, “Yeah! Good look with that internship.”

“See yah.”

“See you later.”

To keep the awkwardness going, we both turn to go down the same hallway.

“Oh,” I grin, “You headin’ this way too?”

“Yeah, I have a meeting with the Academic Decathlon team.”

“Oh nice. I heard about DC. Congratulations.”

“Ah, thanks. But I didn’t really do much, I got, uh, food poisoning the day of the competition.”

Something about the way he says it seems off, almost like there’s more to the story he’s not telling me. I decide to brush it aside. 

“That’s rough. That’s why you don’t get food from a truck.”

Peter chuckles, “I know, I know. There were just so many of them I had to try something.”

“I mean, I guess. But still,” I make a face, “You shouldn’t eat meat that was prepared in the back of a van.”

“I know that now, thanks.”

I smile as we reach the door to the school offices. 

“Well this is me,” Peter gestures at the door.

“Cool. Good luck!”

“Thanks,” Peter grabs the door handle, “I’m sure I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Cool.” Peter gives me an awkward wave.

I wave back in a similarly uncomfortable fashion.

“See ya’.”

Peter closes the door and I begin my lone walk down the hallway. I can’t help but shake this feeling there’s something off about Peter. It feels like he’s hiding something, but I can’t even start to imagine what it is. Either way, it's none of my business, and he seems like a chill dude. I think I’d like to get to know him a little better. Maybe there was some stake in my sister’s ridiculous crush.


	2. The Bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian gets an invite from his best friend Miles to explore an old, abandoned warehouse in Whitestone. However, their exploration is cut short when a small band of criminals show up to move a shipment. Desperate, Miles and Sebastian seek shelter in the rafters, but are soon rescued thanks to the unexpected intervention of a certain masked vigilante.

My phone buzzes from the table next to my bed. I close my algebra textbook and shift in my bed to pick it up. The display shows a text from my best friend Miles.

“Yo! A friend of mine told me about an abandoned storage facility in Whitestone. I was gonna hit it up around 10:30 if you’re game.”

I check the time. 9:45. I should be able to make it in time, assuming I can get past my mom. Hesitant, I look at my now closed textbook. There’s no desire within me to open it back up. I text Miles back.

“Sure. See you there.”

I toss my phone on the table and jump out of bed.

~oOo~

My mom is watching TV in the living room when I come down the stairs dressed in all black, with my backpack on. I’m clearly up to something, and I pray she doesn’t notice. She does. 

“Where you off to?” She doesn’t even turn around. 

I curse in my head, “Uh, I’m heading over to Miles’ house to work on this project for history.”

It’s the most unconvincing lie I’ve ever told, but she seems to buy it, or at least act like she does. 

“What’s in the bag?” She still hasn’t turned around. 

Does my mom secretly have super powers I don’t know about?

“I'm not sure when we'll finish, so might have to stay the night.” I catch myself, “If that’s alright, of course.”

My mom thinks for a moment. I’m pretty sure she sees right through me, but she eventually decides to just accept it. 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” she replies after a moment of thought, “Just make sure you’re at school on time if you do end up staying.”

I celebrate in my head, “Of course. Thank you so much!”

I open the front door, but she stops me.

“Um, excuse me?” She’s looking at me now. 

I stare back, trying to figure out what she wants. Then I remember. 

“Oh!” I rush over to her. 

She offers me her cheek and I kiss it lightly. 

“I love you.”

“Love you too. Stay safe!”

“I will!”

I exit the house, and half walk, half jog down the sidewalk and towards the river. 

~oOo~

Miles is already at the warehouse when I get there. 

“Holy shit.” I say, looking up at the massive building behind him. 

“I know right?” He offers me a hand and I dap it. 

“Have you been inside yet?”

“Naw, I just checked to make sure we could actually get in.”

“Can we?”

“Bro, would I be standing out here if we couldn’t?”

I shrug, “Fair point. So, where’re we heading?”

“There’s a door off to the side.” He starts walking and I follow, “There’s no handle, so it should open with a little persuasion.”

As we walk along the side of the building, I look around. Across the black silk of the East River, I can see the lights of the Bronx, and off to the left, the skyline of Manhattan rises into the sky. Despite the most populated city in America being just a few hundred yards away, it’s eerily quiet. The building next to blocks out any views. It’s dark brick walls climb up toward the sky at least 3 stories. Dark and broken windows line the upper most part of the wall at precise intervals. 

“How have we never been here before?” I ask Miles. 

He scans the wall with his flashlight. 

“I have no idea.”

He shines his flashlight at a large, medal door. There’s a large, cylindrical hole where the doorknob should’ve been. 

“And here we are.” Miles says triumphantly. 

He pushes on the door with his right hand nonchalantly. It doesn’t work. A little hurt and his ego slightly damaged, he puts his flashlight to free up both hands. It still doesn't budge.

“What the hell.”

“Here,” I set my backpack down to help.

I put my shoulder against the door and Miles does the same. 

“On three,” I look at him, and he nods.

“One, two, three!” We say in unison. 

We shove against the door, using all of our combined strength. At first it doesn’t seem like it will give, but slowly it starts to move inwards. A loud screech echoes through the warehouse as the metal bottom grinds against the concrete floor. 

“Almost… there…” Miles groans. 

Eventually, the opening between the door and the door frame is large enough for us to squeeze through. I put my hands on my knees and catch my breath. Miles rests his hands behind his head, panting. After a brief moment, Miles takes a deep breath and picks up his flashlight. 

“Alright,” Miles looks at me, “Let’s do this thing!”

I nod and grab my bag. Miles is already squeezing through the door when I stand up. I follow him. Inside, Miles is scanning the space with his flashlight. 

“Holy shit,” Miles enunciates each syllable. 

I scan the room myself. The warehouse is a daunting, open space twice the size of the school gymnasium. The concrete floor is littered with dust, debris, broken class, and the occasional beer bottle. Above us is a tangled jungle of interlaced steel beams, with matching supports running vertically down the crumbling walls. 

“This place hasn’t been touched in a long while.” I say. 

“You’re telling me. There’s not even any graffiti on the walls.”

Miles reaches into his backpack and pulls out a can of red spray paint. He sets his flashlight on a discarded crate, its beam shining on a blank wall. Slowly, Miles walks towards the wall, shaking the can.  
“Isn’t that a shame?” Miles glances at me with a mischievous grin. 

I chuckle and shake my head.

“I see nothing.” I say turning around. 

“Yeah, well,” he looks at the wall, envisioning how he’s going to permanently scar it, “You’ll see it soon.”

I sigh and continue exploring in the other direction. The warehouse must’ve once been some kind of repair shop. Old machinery and hydraulics litter the space. Some kind of engine still hangs on changes from a large metal frame. I continue across the room. My flashlight lands on a stack of cardboard boxes. Something about them draws my attention. I hear Miles start spraying the wall behind me, but I choose to ignore it. When I get closer to the boxes, I realize why I was drawn to them. They’re newer than everything else in the warehouse. Like, brand new, as in, put-here-recently new. They aren’t taped shut, but rather held shut by interlacing the four flaps. I set my flashlight down on one of the stacks and kneel next to one of them. I look behind me. Miles is completely distracted by his “art,” standing on an old tool box. So far, he’s only drawn a large circle. I turn back to the box and hesitate. Eventually, my curiosity gets the best of me. I open it, and when I see what’s inside, my heart launches itself into my throat in shock. I’m frozen, staring at the stacks of white powder wrapped into tight packages. Though I’ve never seen it in real life, I snuck enough looks at my dad’s crime scene photos to know what it is. My body finally responds, and I grab my flashlight and sprint as quietly as I can towards Miles. He hears me coming and looks at me.

“Dude, what’s…”

“We have to go. NOW!” I don’t give him time to finish.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening at the other side of the facility echoes through the room, followed by hushed, harsh voices. Miles and I immediately turn off our lights. There’s enough ambient light coming through the windows that I can still see Miles’ face.

“Guards?” He mouths.

I shake my head, mouthing, “Worse.”

I look around for somewhere to hide. If we’re found, I don’t like our chances of leaving with our lives still intact. Suddenly, my eyes dart to the steel support beams running up the walls. I have an idea. It’s stupid, but it should work.

I motion towards the beam, and Miles gets the message. He pleads at me with his eyes, gesturing towards the door. I shake my head and don’t give him time to argue. There’s no way we can get back the way we came without making noise. The voices are growing steadily louder as I begin my ascent. Despite his silent protest, Miles follows me. As fast as I can without being reckless, I shimmy up the beam. Luckily, it’s the kind of beam that’s significantly skinnier in the middle, so it’s fairly easy to climb. The ground seems miles below me when I finally reach the top and am able to pull myself onto the beams lining the roof. Carefully, I skoot out into the void to give Miles some room. No sooner is he in place than I see the source of the voices.

Four men walk from the side of the building facing the road carrying flashlights and - confirming my suspicions - guns.

“Fisk wants the product out of here by tonight.” One of the guys, I’m guessing the leader, looks at a clipboard in his hands, “Make sure you get it into the van as quickly as possible. We don’t want to draw any attention.”

“Got it boss.” Replies one of the other men, stooping down to grab a box.

My heartbeat is so loud I can almost hear it echoing off the walls. Miles looks at me, his eyes screaming as loud as my heartbeat.

“What do we do?” He mouths.

My mind is racing through every single possibility. None of them end well for us. All I can do is give him a panicked shrug. Real comforting, me.

At that moment, I hear something. It wasn’t any of the men, or a voice, but rather a sharp, almost sticky whip sound. My stomach does a double front flip inside of me. I know that sound. I’ve heard it before. Not in person, but in those YouTube videos my sister insists on showing me. The ones my mom HATES us watching. I look to my left, and see a red and blue blur darting towards us. My mind barely has time to process what’s happening before he’s right next to us. HIM. Right there! The eyes on his mask widen when he sees us. He looks around. Clearly the last thing he expected to see here were two teenagers clinging to the ceiling for dear life. He looks back at us, still surprised, putting a single finger up to where I assume his mouth is. Like he had to tell us to stay quiet. He looks past us and shoots two streams of a white, web like substance out of devices on his wrists. The webs shoot past us, landing on some support beams several yards away. With the silence of a cat, he leans back and flings himself past us. He’s so close I feel the wind as he passes. Despite the situation we’re in, I’m amazed at how quickly and accurately he can navigate the web of support beams. I look at Miles, and he stares back at me in awe.

“That’s fucking Spider-Man” He mouths.

I just look at him, my mind short circuiting. I turn my attention to Spider-Man. He’s opposite the guards, hanging upside-down from a continuously lengthening piece of webbing. When he’s about halfway to the ground, he freezes. He glances up at us, and I read his mind. When he starts talking, all attention will be on him. We can make our escape.

I look at Miles, mouthing, “Go, now!”

He gets the message, and starts backing towards the wall. Once we’re moving, Spider-Man refocuses on the men. Miles has just begun his descent when he speaks.

“Hey, I hate to break it to you guys, but I think you’re late for your shift. By like, a few decades.”

I recognize that voice. I’ve heard it before. Not on YouTube, but in person. If only I could think of where.

No time for that, I remind myself, focusing on my climb.

“What the hell?” One of the men shouts.

All guns and lights are immediately turned on Spider-Man. I can’t help but watch. It slows my climb, but I HAVE to see what happens.

Spider man puts his arms up, gripping the web between his feet.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” he tries to defuse the men, “You realize those are illegal in New York, right?”

“So is vigilantism, Spider.” The leader says, “I’m gonna get a huge raise when I take you in.”

“Well geez, I’m flattered guys, really, but…”

Suddenly, my mind goes full focus on a tickling sensation on my wrist. I’m about 6 feet from the ground, but I’m frozen in place.

“What the hell are you doing?” Mile hisses, “Get down here!”

I know I have to keep moving, but I can’t. Why’d it have to be now? Why did it have to be… That. A large, black and gold colored spider walks slowly on the back of my hand. I hate spiders. HATE them! My body won’t move. I’m just stuck, helpless as the spider stops at the base of my thumb.

Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it. PLEASE. Do NOT do it!

To my horror, the spider’s head jerks downwards, and I’m hit with a sharp burning sensation that affects my whole hand. I yelp and jerk my hand, trying to fling it off. As always, I go way overboard. The sudden motion causes me to lose my balance. I don’t feel the fall, or even the impact. All I hear is the horrific, very much noticeable crash that accompanies my landing.

Next thing I know, all lights are pointed on me. Miles rips me to my feet, but it’s too late.

“Looks like you brought some friends!” The boss yells.

I look over to see all four of them pointing their rifles in our direction. This is it. I always knew I’d be done in by a stupid spider.

“Shit,” I hear Spider-Man mutter.

Almost too fast to see, he shoots a web that lands on the leader’s gun. He yanks it, slamming the man in the face, knocking him out, and sending the gun flying out of sight. All attention is back on him.

“Now’s our chance!” Miles grabs my hand and pulls me running towards the building’s main entrance.

I can’t help but look back as we run. Spider-Man is on the ground now. He simultaneously shoots two webs at two of the remaining men’s feet, ripping them to the ground. The second man points his gun at Spider-Man, but before he can do anything Spider-Man grabs the gun and shoves it in the face. The other two are up now, and rush towards the frey. That’s all I see before Miles and I slam the exit open and rush into the street. He doesn’t have to hold my hand anymore. As we sprint down the road, I hear a short burst of gunshots from the warehouse, but they're cut short. I look back one last time, but all I catch is one last fleeting glance before we round a corner, out of sight and into the night.


End file.
